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5 Quirky-Cute Mother's Day Gift Ideas

I put on my Zooey Deschanel hat (or should I say, beret) to dream up these sweet, personalized treats for all the M-O-Ms out there.

Chances are, crafting up a thoughtful DIY gift for Mom--i.e. a construction paper card and hand-print-smudged-in-clay, cobbled together on Saturday May 12th--isn't really an option anymore. That doesn't mean you can't wow her with your skills of awesome daughter-dom by picking out something special for her. Something that says, "I remember everything you told me over all these years, even when you didn't think I was listening, even as I was rolling my eyes at you, even as I was disagreeing you, and even as I was blasting Ace of Base on my Walkman to annoy you while you were trying to lecture me about missing curfew. I know what you're all about because I was really listening all along. See?"

Here are a few ideas of how you can win Best Daughter of The Year this, er, Mother's Day (can you tell I'm an only child?!):

Mother's Day Gift Idea #1: A themed animal-something. I'm not talking cats and dogs novelties (although, c'mon, you can almost never go wrong with a cat-printed or cat-shaped anything). No, I mean gifting her some small animal totem that represents one of her best qualities. If she's got a great memory, give her an elephant-accented something. A curious thinker? Try a monkey figurine. A smarty pants or total bookworm? An owl mug is just the ticket.

Just make sure you explain the reference in the card as a gift that features an huge, oversize mammal or wild, neurotic bird could be taken the wrong way.

Mother's Day Gift Idea #2: Something that reminds her of her favorite trip. She might not be racking up the frequent flier miles these days, but chances are that there's one memorable get-away that makes up the cul-de-sac of her Memory Lane. A poster, cookbook or set of cards that conjure up that special destination will conjure up happy memories, every time she sees it.

Mother's Day Gift Idea #4: Photos of Y-O-U (and / or your own little kiddo Because after all, gazing at a photo of little kid cuteness is the next best thing to spending 24/7 with that same kid, all grown up. (Or so my own mom tells me.) You can snap and frame your own, or you can get a little fancy and do something customized: Pinhole Press has a slew of nifty photo gifts, from framed prints and full-on photo books to smaller goodies, like notepads and magnets--all of which can be customized with your own photos. Prices range from about $12.99 to around $50, and they're all oh-so-pretty.

Mother's Day Gift Idea #5: A record player and vinyls of her old favorites She'll get a kick out of listening to her classic tunes on an old-school turntable. If acquiring new gadgetry sounds too spendy, just track down some of CDs of the albums she used to listen to when you were a girl (Hall & Oates, anyone?) or even better, when she was a girl (The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, etc--take your pick, depending on her generation).

What do you think, ladies? What other good Mother's Day gift ideas do you have percolating? Any of these quirky-cute ideas feel right for your Mom? (Speaking of, there's NOTHING quirky-cuter than VINYL, right? Am sure Zooey would agree with me on that one.)